Mine destroyer



Filed Aug. 26, 1943 www@ Patented Oct. 202, i946;

MINE- DESTROYER Lawrence Langner, New York, Nl Y., assignor t theGovernment of the United States of Amer'- his successors in officeApplication August 2.6, 1943, Serial No. 500,061

3 Claims.

the act of March 3, 1883, asv amended April4 30, 1928; 370 O. G. 757)(Granted under The invention described herein may be manufactured andused by or for' the Government' for governmental purposes, withoutpayment to me of any royalty thereon.

This invention relates to a mine' destroyer and more particularly it isdirected to a device of this character for destroying land mines.

One of the objects of the invention is to provide a mine destroyeradapted to be mounted on an armored vehicle for destroying' mines buriedin the earth and adapted' to be exploded when tramped on or upon avehicle passing overI the same.

Another object of the invention is to provide a mine destroyer includingtamping elements adapted to be mounted on an armored vehicle andactuated by the vehicle for causing the tamping elements to contact theground for exploding mines buried therein.

Another object of the invention is to provide a. mine destroyer adaptedto be mounted on and actuated by an armored vehicle and which is simplein operation, constructed of few parts that can readily be replaced uponbeing damaged, which may be quickly mounted on and removed from thearmored vehicle and well adapted for the purpose intended withoutsubjecting the driver or crew of the armored vehicle to body injury ordeath upon destroying a mine.

Heretofore in destroying land mines buried in the ground by an enemy acrew of men had to go over the ground on foot to detect the presence ofthe mines therein before the mines could be destroyed or madeineffective, thereby subjecting the men to great danger of body injuryor death.

It is therefore the aim and purpose of this invention to provide a minedestroyer on an armored vehicle and adapted to be automatically actuatedby a mechanism of the armored vehicle for exploding land mines in a minefield over which troops or other vehicles are to pass, while at the sametime protecting the driver of the vehicle from body injury,

With the above and other .objects and advantages in view the inventionconsists of certain features of construction and operation of partswhich will hereinafter be described and shown in thel accompanyingdrawing in which:

Fig, l is a perspective view of an armored vehicle having the improvedmine destroyer including one form of mine exploding tamping elementsmounted thereon; and

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional detail View partly in elevation of amodified form of a mine explodica, as represented by the Secretary ofWar' and ing tamping element which may also be used in carrying out theinvention.

Referring more specifically to Fig. 1, theimproved mine destroyerillustrated generally by A is mounted on an armored vehicle B in theform of a tank and comprises an oscillating lever or walking beam Ipivotally connected or fulcrumed intermediate its ends 2 and 3 by a bolt4 to a pair of brackets 5 which diverge outwardly and downwardly towardthe front end of the armored' vehicle B from their connection with thebeam I and having their lower ends mounted on the armored vehicle bybolts 0.

The walking beam I extends outwardly from and above the front end of thearmored vehicle B and is ful'crumed at 4 to the upper ends of the,

brackets 5 a shorter distance from its rear end 2 than from the frontend 3 thereof, whereby a long arm portion l is provided on the front endof the walking beam I and a short arm portion 8 is provided on the rearend of the walking beam for a purpose which will hereinafter appear.

The rear end 2 of the walking beam I is pivotally connected by a bolt 9to the upper end of a connecting rod I0 having a ring member or strap IImounted on its lower end. The strap I I surrounds an eccentric I2mounted on one end of a shaft IS rotatably supported on a bracket I4secured to the front end of the armored vehicle B by bolts l5. Asprocket wheel I6 is mounted on the opposite end of the shaft I3 fromthe eccentric I2 and is driven by a sprocket chain I'I, which in turn isdriven by another sprocket wheel I8 mounted on one end of a shaft I 9 ofa part of the mechanism for operating the armored' vehicle B.

A transversely extending supporting bar or rod 20 is mounted on andextends outwardly an equal distance from the outer end 3 of theoscillating lever or walking beam I and carries a plurality ofconnecting members 2I preferably in the form of flexible wire strands orcables which hang downwardly from the supporting bar 20 in suitablespaced relation and have mine explosion tamping elements 22 suitablysecured to their lower or free ends 23, which mine explosion tampingelements 22 preferablyV consist of a plurality of sets of chains 24 asillustrated in Fig. l, but each of the mine explosion tampingelements'22 may comprise an expendable can or bag 25'filled with anysuitable material such as sand or water and having metal soles 26mounted on its lower end as illustrated in Fig.V 2.

In the operation of the improved mine destroyer, as the armored vehicleB travels over a field having land mines buried therein, thershaft I9forming a part of the mechanism for driving the armored vehicle, drivesthe sprocket wheel I8 which in turn operates the sprocket chain I1 fordriving the sprocket wheel I6. The sprocket wheel I6 -being rotateddrives shaft I3, which in turn drives the eccentric I2 which rotates inthe Strap or ring member I I periodically moving the strap II downwardlyand upwardly whereby the connecting rod I Il is periodically moveddownwardly and upwardly to cause the inner end 2 of the Walking beam Ito be periodically pulled downwardly and moved upwardly which oscillatesthe walking beam i on its pivot 4, thus periodically moving its frontend 3 upwardly and downwardly, causing the Vmine explosion tampingelements 22 to be periodically moved vertically downwardly to beat orstrike heavy blows on the earth covering the Yland mines to bedestroyed, and also to move upwardly therefrom, one of which land minesM being illustrated in Fig. l. By using the heavy chains 24 as mineexplosion tamping elements, a greater mined area may be covered and inusing the ilexible connecting members ZI the mine explosion tampingelements are permitted to spread over a wider ield and to disperse whenan explosion of a mine takes place and the elements are lifted by theforce of the explosion. The sprocket wheel I3 may be of various sizes tovary the speed of tamping relative to the speed of the tank B.Preferably, the speed of the vehicle and the tamping action will be suchthat every foot of ground will be tamped. A change speed device or" anywell known kind (not shown) may be interposed in the drive between thewalking beam and axle i8, or independent drive means may be employed forthe walking beam.

In providing a longer front end arm portion 'I on the walking beam Ithan the short rear end arm portion 8 thereof, the front end 3 of thewalking beam is caused to move downwardly and upwardly a greatervertical distance than the vertical distance traveled by the rear end 2of the walking beam, whereby the mine explosion tamping elements 22 maybe lowered vwith a greater impact onto the ground to explodeV the landmines buried therein. Upon explosion of the mine, the tamping elements22 are deilected by the force of the explosion but are not brokenthereby; and the supporting bar 20 and walking beam are suciently faraway from the mine to avoid damage.

It will thus be seen that there is herein provided a novel and eiiicientform of mine destroyer which is well adapted for the purpose indicatedabove. The mine destroying operation takes place far ahead of theposition of the tank itself, making the operation relatively safe.

Even though there has herein been shown and described certain featuresof construction and operation of parts, it is nevertheless to beunderstood that various changes may be made therein if the changes donot depart from the spirit and scope of the claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and wish tosecure by Letters Patent 1. In combination, an armored motor vehicle, apair f bracket members mounted on the front end of said vehicle andextending outwardly and upwardly from the front end of said vehicle andconverging upwardly toward each other, a walking beam, said walking beamextending outwardly from and above the front end of said vehicle andpivotally mounted adjacent one end thereof to the upper ends of saidbracket members, whereby a long arm portion is provided on the front endof the walking beam and a short arm portion is provided on the rear endthereof, means for actuating said walking beam, said means including asprocket mechanism connected to Ibe actuated by the vehicle motor, aneccentric rotated by said sprocket mechanism, a ring member actuated bysaid eccentric and a rod connected to be actuated by said ring member,one end of said rod secured to said ring member and the other endthereof pivotally connected to the rear end of said walking beam, asupporting bar mounted on and extending transversely outwardly from thefront end of said walking beam and mine explosion elements connected tosaid bar, said actuating means being constructed and arranged so thatupon the actuation of the vehicle motor the walking beam is oscillatedon its pivotal connection with said bracket members for periodicallyactuating said explosion elements into contact with the ground forexploding mines buried therein.

2. In combination, an armored motor vehicle, a pair of bracket membersmounted on the front end of said vehicle and extending outwardly andupwardly from the front end of said vehicle and converging upwardlytoward each other, a walking beam, said walking beam extending outwardlyfrom and above the front end of said vehicle and pivotally mountedadjacent one end thereof to the upper ends of said bracket members,whereby a long arm portion is provided on the front end of the walkingbeam and a short arm portion is provided on the rear end thereof, meansfor actuating said walking beam, said means including a sprocketmechanism connected to be actuated by the vehicle motor, an eccentricrotated by said sprocket mechanism, a ring member actuated by saideccentric and a rod connected to be actuated by said ring member, oneend of said rod secured to said ring member and the other end thereofpivotally connected to the rear end of said walking beam, a supportingbar mounted on and extending transversely outwardly from the front endof said walking beam and sets of explosion tamping chains and cablesconnecting said chains to said bar, said actuating means beingconstructed and arranged so that upon the actuation of the vehicle motorthe walking beam is oscillated on its pivotal connection with saidbracket members for periodically actuating said explosion chains intoContact with the ground for exploding mines buried therein.

3. In combination, an armored motor vehicle, a pair of bracket membersmounted on the front end of said vehicle and extending outwardly andupwardly from the fro-nt end of said vehicle and converging upwardlytoward each other, a walking beam, said walking beam extending outwardlyfrom and above the front end of said vehicle and pivotally mountedadjacent one end thereof to the upper ends oi said bracket members,whereby a long arm portion is provided on the front end of the walkingbeam and a short arm portion is provided on the rear end thereof, meansfor actuating said Walking beam, said means including a sprocketmechanism connected to be actuated by the vehicle motor, lan eccentricrotated by said sprocketmechanism, a ring member actuated by saideccentric and a rod connected to be actuated by said ring member, oneend of said rod secured to said ring member and the other end thereofpivotally connected to the rear end of said walking beam, a supportingbar mounted on and extending transversely outwardly from the front endof said Walking beam and expendable weighted containers including metalsoies connected to said bar, said actuating means being constructed andarranged so that upon the actuation of the vehicle motor the Walkingbeam is oscillated on its pivotal connection with said bracket membersfor periodically actuating said expendable weighted containers intocontact With the ground for exploding mines buried therein.

LAWRENCE LANGNER.

